135mm Cam for MPP

[ben_rubinstein___mancheste1664880652]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for a rangefinder cam for a 135mm lens on a MPP mk7. I know that the

cams were originally designed with a specific lens in mind but it's for stop down

photography were slight differences won't matter. I have been in touch with the

MPP Users group but they insist on joining by post and I won't be back in the UK

for a couple of months. Does anyone know where I can get one?

[colin carron]

If you have not already seen it the MPP Users Club website has cam plate profiles which you might be able to use to mske one.

 

http://www.mppusers.freeuk.com/camplates.htm

 

Click on the profiles to enlarge them.

[ben_rubinstein___mancheste1664880652]

If I try and hang a picture I usually hit my thumb more than the nail Colin...

 

I have thought of getting it done by a friend who does this kind of thing, just wondered if there was any floating around rather than lose my camera and lens for a while!

[colin carron]

Sorry, I have removed the r/f from my Mk VII to save weight but the cam is for a 150 Symmar convertible. perhaps you could work out a depth of field tanle then just preset the focus and walk backwards and forwards as required. Good luckanyway!

[georges_giralt]

Hi Ben !

Try to contact the MPP user club. At some time they sold cams (for members, IRC) so you may gave luck asking....

[rodeo_joe1]

The cams were custom made to each lens Ben, there was no such thing as an "off the shelf" 135mm cam.

 

What lens is it you have? The 135mm Xenar? That was the lens most commonly fitted to MPPs, but other variations exist, and will need a different cam.

 

I have a MK 6 with rangefinder, and IMHO it's an almost useless feature because of the difficulty of sourcing or making cams, and the fact that each lens needs to have separate infinity notches filed accurately into the camera bed.

 

You're probably better off just calibrating the focusing scale and guesstimating distances, or using a separate little RF.

[ben_rubinstein___mancheste1664880652]

I tried working out the rangefinder difference between the included and my lens (135mm Sironar S) but the distance between the rangefinder correct focus and GG (correct) focus was 18mm at infinity, 19mm in between and almost nothing at all at 1-2 meter distance. In other words more trouble than it's worth.

 

As far as the infinity stops are concerned, I rotated the metal strips with the notches so that the 2nd set of infinity stops were reversed giving infinty for something like a 110mm lens. Although this isn't much use, I've taped a mm measure over it anyway, it does mean that the front standard clicks into the notch before infinity (and thereby allowing infinity!) which it didn't for my 135mm lens previously as the infinity notches were set for 150mm. If you have the camera you will know what I mean, bit hard to describe!

 

I'm using the lenses stopped down, f22 at the least, I don't think there would be enough difference between any 135mm lens that the rangefinder would have been calibrated for with that amount of DOF.

 

I have a friend whose looking at the drawings and diagrams on the MPP user club website for making your own cam. We'll see what comes up!

[matt.bigwood]

Hi Ben

 

I've managed to collect a few cam plates over the years for MPP Micro Technicals. As regards the specific plate for specific lens, this is correct, but in the real world non-matching cam plates and lenses can be used.

 

I've used an old MPP 135mm cam plate designed for a Schneider Xenar successfully with a 1940s Graflex Optar from a Speed Graphic. I used the ground glass to set focus at infinity, so it coincided with infinity on the rangefinder. From then on all worked OK.

 

The MPP Mk7 and Mk8 rangefinder cam plates share a common fitting and can be interchanged.

[matt.bigwood]

These were taken with the set-up mentioned - MPP Mk8, Metz 45 flash and 135mm Graflex Optar

 

http://web.mac.com/mattbigwood/iWeb/Site%205/Large%20Format%20Photography.html

 

Matt